WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 28, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES AMAZON SEEKS TO EXPAND GLOBALLY Amazon says it plans to revamp its international e-commerce platform to make it easier for the company to reach customers in new markets. The online retailer, the world’s largest by number of visitors, operates online businesses in six countries outside the US. It says it has set up [...]
CITY A.M. | SHADOW MPC October 6, 2010 ALLISTER HEATH | CITY A.M. “With the services sector growing at a faster rate, the supply and velocity of money accelerating, and inflation too high, it is time for a symbolic quarter point hike in rates.” SIMON WARD | HENDERSON “Maintain vote for quarter-point hike. Monetary conditions are loose with velocity recovering, while CPI inflation [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS October 3, 2010 Merchant Securities The financial services group has appointed Chris Smith as its new head of institutional broking, focusing on establishing a research capability in the financials sector. Smith has covered financials for over 20 years, latterly at Jefferies International and Oriel Securities. He also previously worked for HSBC James Capel, where he was the top-ranked [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 14, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES LLOYDS TO SPIN OFF BUY-OUT ARM The private equity arm of Lloyds Banking Group has for the first time outlined plans for the UK’s most prolific buy-out investor to spin off from its banking parent. Darryl Eales, chief executive of Lloyds TSB Development Capital, said it was expected to start raising money from [...]
Lloyds Group tops ombudsman’s list for most complaints September 14, 2010 LLOYDS Banking Group topped the list of financial services companies that consumers have registered complaints with the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) about in the last six months, its latest figures revealed yesterday. Government-backed Lloyds TSB, was the subject of some 12,750 complaints during the six-month period. That was almost 5,000 more than Barclays Bank, which [...]
Shadow MPC doves reverse pro-QE stance November 3, 2010 STRONG third-quarter GDP growth has persuaded a majority of City A.M.’s shadow Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) that rates should be kept on hold this month, with further quantitative easing (QE) staved off for now. The Bank of England MPC will meet today to decide whether to resume QE or raise interest rates from 0.5 per [...]
PERSONAL FINANCE NEWS October 7, 2010 CONSUMERS PAYING OFF CARDS FASTER Data from the British Bankers’ Association shows that the number of credit card purchases has been on the rise over the last year. While there were 158m purchases on cards in August 2009, July 2010 saw 169m and in August this year consumers upped the number of purchases to 173m. [...]
FUND MANAGEMENT NEWS September 14, 2010 GROSVENOR FUND’S £110M LLOYDS DEAL Grosvenor Fund Management UK announced earlier this week the completion of a new £110m debt facility with Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets for its £400m Grosvenor London Office Fund. The three-year deal replaces the existing facility with Lloyds Banking Group, which expires this month. The fund’s loan-to-value ratio is low at [...]
PERSONAL FINANCE NEWS September 16, 2010 HALF OF WOMEN WITHOUT A PENSION Almost half of all British women of working age do not have any pension provision, a study conducted by Baring Asset Management showed earlier this week. The total number of women who have yet to retire without a pension is increasing year-on-year. Equally shocking, a fifth of all working [...]
Hammerson buys offices August 4, 2010 REAL estate investor Hammerson has teamed up with a Canadian pension investor to buy the long leasehold of 10 Gresham Street for £183m. The joint venture has bought the Foster & Partners-designed building from Union Investment, a German fund. Union purchased the property from Standard Life in May last year. Hammerson has paid £55m for [...]